Skin rejuvenation is occupying a significant part in the aesthetic field as it is deals with wrinkles, scars, pores, pigmentation and skin textures. Various materials, chemical and biological, are used for this purpose and a lot of delivery systems have been developed to assure an effective delivery to the different layers of the skin.
Recently, platelet rich plasma or PRP is proving to be efficient for skin rejuvenation procedures. Platelets contain several growth factors that are necessary to the healing and tissue renewal process. Many researches have presented results of PRP used for rejuvenation that was applied topically to the face or injected to the deeper skin layers. In addition, the PRP treatment was combined in several more researches with energy source treatments as ultrasound and fractional laser for improving outcomes and decreasing healing time.
The current methods for applying PRP are still not optimized to be the most efficient for each treatment. The efficiency of the treatment relies on the several aspects such as the amount of PRP used, the location of applying the PRP whether it is topical or in any of the skin layers, and it also depends on the diffusion of the PRP through the skin layers.
Fractional CO2 laser therapy is based on the theory of fractional photothermolysis. It has been used to treat skin problems, such as scar removal, skin tightening and skin rejuvenation. Two types of fractional laser treatments are available presently, nonablative and ablative. Nonablative fractional laser is less invasive, provides good clinical outcomes but is not sufficient to treat the above mentioned skin problems at a single treatment compared to an ablative laser treatment. The ablative fractional laser treatment creates ablative microscopic channels of thermal injury that causes skin tightening and smoothening. This effect is achieved by collagen remodeling that causes the skin to re-epithelialize. Despite its advantageous over nonablative laser, ablative laser has a longer down time and more adverse reactions for patients, such as erythema, acne, milia and infection. Hence, the aesthetic field has been concerned about improving the results of skin rejuvenation but shortening the recovery or downtime from the treatment. A few studies have suggested the use of PRP after fractional laser treatment. (Lee et al. The efficacy of autologous platelet rich plasma combined with ablative carbon dioxide fractional resurfacing for acne scars: a simultaneous split—face trial, Dermatol Surg, 2011) suggested faster healing occurs for the skin areas that have been treated with PRP after ablative fractional laser treatment for acne scars. Less Erythema was observed 4 days after the treatment and an improved overall clinical appearance of acne scaring occurred for PRP treated areas. (Gawdat et al., Autologous platelet rich plasma: topical versus intradermal after fractional ablative carbon dioxide laser treatment of atrophic acne scars, Dermatol Surg, 2014) compared improvement of acne scars after ablative fractional treatment when PRP was applied topically or injected intradermally. The same improvement in acne scaring reduction was showed for both application methods but significantly lower pain levels were shown for the topical application of PRP after fractional treatment. The above mentioned methods disclose applying PRP after fractional treatment is completed but yet no method has suggested to apply PRP into newly ablated channels have been formed by fractional treatment.